1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to the field of information handling system power allocation, and more particularly to a system and method for dynamic utilization-based power allocation in a modular information handling system.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
Business enterprises often rely on a number of information handling systems to perform information processing for enterprise functions. In order to save space and reduce cost, enterprises sometimes use information handling systems deployed in a modular configuration. For example, a chassis has multiple slots with each slot configured to accept an information handling system module. Each module typically has one or more processors, memory and firmware to run an operating system and desired applications; however, power and cooling for the modules is typically provided by resources within the chassis which are distributed to the modules. One example of such a modular configuration is a blade information handling system which has a chassis having slots to accept plural blade modules. A chassis management controller associated with the chassis has firmware and processing resources to manage the distribution of power resources to the various blade modules. A blade module controller associated with each blade module manages the operation of each blade within constraints set by the chassis management controller. An advantage to modular information handling system configurations, such as blade systems, is that an enterprise can add processing resources as needed by adding blade modules to the blade chassis. By sharing power and cooling resources through a common chassis, overall cost is reduced.
One difficulty that arises with modular information handling system configurations is that the chassis power system is typically not capable of operating an information handling system module in each chassis slot at maximum power consumption level. To address this difficulty, the chassis management controller power management firmware typically manages a power budget for each information handling system module to balance power allocation based on power requirements and priority. Total available power from the chassis power supply is allocated based upon a worst case sustained power need (powermax) and worst case throttled power requirements (powermin) determined by the blade module controllers. The information handling system module power requirements are used in combination with user-configurable module priorities to determine the power allocation for each module. Thus, if available power is restricted then information handling system modules having more critical functions are allocated adequate power to operate unthrottled while other modules having less critical functions operate in throttled modes. However, the information handling system modules that have maximum power available typically do not use maximum power for extended simultaneous time periods. Thus, allocated but unutilized power typically remains available from the power supply but unavailable for use by all of the information handling system modules. As a result, some information handling system modules run in throttled modes even though the chassis power supply has additional power available to operate the information handling system modules unthrottled at least some of the time.